Kidambi Srikanth Clinches Maiden Syed Modi International Title

Kidambi Srikanth clinched the Syed Modi International Championships title with a hard-fought 21-13, 14-21, 21-14 win over China's Huang Yuxiang in the final of the USD 120,000 badminton tournament on Sunday. (Click here for latest Badminton stories)

Srikanth, the number one seed, had finished runners up in the previous two editions of the Syed Modi International Championships, and set the record straight with a dogged performance in the summit clash.

The Indian shuttler breezed through the first game, hardly breaking a sweat.

In the second game, however, Srikanth found the going much harder. He led 11-7 and looked set to wrap the match up in a hurry. But the Chinese player upped his game at the crucial juncture to win five consecutive points to take a 12-11 lead.

Srikanth seemed to lose his focus, winning just three points from therein to throw away his advantage and lose the second game.

The third game was another tight affair as Yuxiang streaked to a 8-4 lead before the Indian started a fightback of his own. Srikanth, who at No. 9 is the highest ranked Indian in the world, won five consecutive points to take a 9-8 lead.

With the Chinese shuttler leading 13-12, the match was firmly in the balance. Srikanth, however, made it a one-sided affair from there after winning six straight points to open up a 18-12 lead. He won the final three points without much fuss to wrap up his first title here.

Earlier in the day, Indian men's doubles pair of Pranaav Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar had to endure a heartbreak as they wasted two match-points to lose the final to experienced Malaysian combine of Goh V. Shem and Wee Kiong Tan.

The reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallists took exactly an hour and a minute to win the Grand Prix Gold tournament 14-21, 24-22, 21-8 at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium. The win extended the Malaysian pair's head-to-head record against the Indians to 3-0.